Railroad-spike.



N A G A N A L F A G RAILROAD SPIKE.

APPLIUATIOH FILEDIBBJB, 1910.

Patented Feb. 28, 1911.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

,cnannns A. FLANAGAN, or conoaano srnrnes, conormjoo.

RAILBOAD-SPIFE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 28, 1911.

Applicationfiled February 18, 1910. Serial No. 544,639.

To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that I, CHARLES A. FLANA- can, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Colorado Springs, in the county of-El Paso and Stateof. Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Railroad-Spikes; and I do hereby declare ,appertains to make and usethe same.

the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itwhen properly engaged with the tie.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter'r'eferred to and'moreparticularly pointed out in the specification and l claims.

,In theaceolnpanying drawingswhich are made a part of this application,Figure lis a vertical central sectional view through the,

spike as seen on line-M Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of that formof the spike- -'sh,own'in Fig. 1. Fig. .3 is a sectional view thereof asseen on line 6-6 Fig. '2.

- Referring to the drawings in which similar reference numeralsdesignate 'corre sponding parts throughout the several views, 1indicates the bodyof the spike which'is preferably oblong andsubstantially rectangular in cross section, the upper. end of' the bodybeing 'providedfwith a head 2, while the lower portion thereof, orsubstantially one halflthe length of the bodyyis tapered to'.provi de apoint '3 which is adapted to be entered} into the, usual .form of tie.IThe lower portion of the inclinedsect'ionof the body isiata reaterangle than the upper portion, where y shoulders 4 are formed andbyextending the surfaces of said shoulders ajt a downward 'inclinationfromtheir outer to their inner edges, the fiber of the tie will bepositively engaged by said. shoulders and the spike held against casualremoval from the tie.

Above the inclined shoulders 4 are recesses 5 which are formed inthe'tapered faces of the body and the edge walls of the recesses arelikewise tapered and converge at their upper ends. The end walls of therecesses, as shown in Fig. '3 may also be at an angle, whereby adovetail connection will'beformed between the spike and the fiber of thetie. The prime object of the recesses is to prevent lateral twistingmove ment of the sp kes after the same have been properly seated in thetie' and the engage ment of the fiber of the tie-with said recesseswillalso serve to hold. the spike against removal from the tie.

In applying the spike to use, the point' end 3 thereof isproperly-positioned upon the tie and blows delivered to the head end ofthe spike, which will result in driving the same into the tie. As thetapered edges of the spike are transversely of the grain of the time,the tfiber of the tie will immediately expand and engage the shouldersof the spike and enter the recesses therein and in view-0t theoverhanging'po'rtions of the fiber, it will be practically impossible todis-' engage the spike from the tie and it will likewise be seen thatbyproviding the recesses to receive portions of the fiber of the tie,'said spike will'be'additionally braced against lateral movement. Y

What I claim is:-

, 1; An articleof manufacture, comprising 'a body portion having a headat one end and tapered faces at the opposite end, a section a of thetaper being greater than the remain ing portion of the taper, wherebyshoulders are formed and recesses in the tapered faces above saidshoulders-theside walls of saidrecesses converging at their u per ends.2. The herein described spi e, comprising a'body portion havingportionsof two of its ed s tapered and conver ing to form a po1nt,ithelower 'section oft e tapered edges being at a gre'atef engle than the.upper. perclined, said tapez ed facesahove 'the s 0111- eredispeseda-tan angle.

In testimony whereof I have "signetl my tions of the tapered sections,whereby shouL ders are formed, said shoulders. bein int-WU'SLIbSQIibingWitnesses, I Y t v CHARLES A. FLANAGAIX.

-Witnesses:

'VVENDEIL PRICE,"

ders having recesses -"therein, the edge wallsfi I F. O. HARRIS.

of which converge at their upper end' and i' Copies ef-this patent maybe 'obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner-l -ofPatients,"

name to this specifieatien in the .presenee of

